Established in 2005 to recognize the work librarians do to sustain, support and defend Human Rights.
June 13. 20110--Moved to http://hrlibs.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Laboring to Learn: Women’s Literacy & Poverty in the Post-Welfare Era

Laboring to Learn: Women’s Literacy & Poverty in the Post-Welfare EraLorna Rivera, Ph.D. University of Illinois Press, 2008.Throughout this study, the voices and experiences of formerly homeless women challenge cultural stereotypes about poor women, showing in personal and structural terms how social and economic forces shape and restrict opportunities for low-income women of color.

Rivera argues that poverty is produced and reproduced when women with low literacy skills are pushed into welfare-to-work programs and denied education. She examines how various discourses about individual choice and self-sufficiency shape the purposes of literacy, how low-income women express a sense of personal responsibility for being poor, and how neoliberal ideologies and practices compromise the goals of critical literacy programs. Throughout this study, the voices and experiences of formerly homeless women challenge cultural stereotypes about poor women, showing in personal and structural terms how social and economic forces shape and restrict opportunities for low-income women of color.

About Us

Librarians for Human Rights is a collaborative of librarians in North America dedicated to the realization of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We work to recognize librarians and library services that illuminate, sustain and safeguard human rights.